Improvement in bags



2 snes-sneez 1.

A. SMITH.

Bag No. 222,425. vPatented Dec. 9, 1879.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I IIIIIIIIIII I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I' '/-r s.,------.-----------'m 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

- A. SMITH. Bag No. 222,425. Patented Dec. 9, 1879.

fiyfi OGRAFHER. WASHINGTON D c N UNITED STATEs PATENT 'ADAM sMiTH, oFi GANAJ'OHARIE, NEW YORK, AssiGNon 'ro ARKELLa i sMITHs, ot' SAME PLAoE.

I'MPROVEMENT IN BAGS.

specification forming part of Letters Patent `No. 222,425, dated December 9, 1879 application filed January 8, 1879.

' (either by hand or machinery) to form the reqt quisite seams of the bag;

` and it has for its object the production of such bags with a square or satchel bottom, analogous in structure or form and appearance to what are known in the market as satchel-bottom paper bags Previous to my invention it has been suggested to make cloth bags lin. such a manner that whenthe finished bag should be distended by filling it the bottom should present somewhat the appearance of that of a (listended satchel-bottom paper bag, in lieu of 1possessing the objectionable features of the protruding car-like Corners common to the old-fashioned cloth bag's, (which are made by simply sewing the fabric up into shape likea pillow-case,) and some of the methods of manufacture so suggested have, I believe, been made the subjects of Letters Patent; but in no instance that I know of has a cloth bag' i been made of a single piece of 'stuff With the material stitched or sewed in such a manner that the bag when fi'lled or distended would have a bottom in effect and appearance the same as if the -bag were made from a rectangular tube of cloth and a separate rectangular bottom-piece stltched to one end of said tube.

In all 'the so-called satchel-bottom bags 77 made by sewing up cloth that I know of, the

i distended bag, though having a bottom resembling somewhat a 'regular square-bottom or satCheI-bottom bag, has been such in structure that there were certain portions of the material merely tucked up,| or tucked or folded in, for the purpose of giving the bag-bottom the desired satchel-like appearanee, andthemethod of making has been such that the exterior of the bag at the vicinity of the bottom has not been'smooth' or unbroken in surface, as it would be if made either (as I have j ust before mentioned) by' sewinga bottom-piece into the end of a tubular piece of material, 01' by folding and cementing together the material over a former or block similar in size and shape to the intended size and shape of the distended or filled bag.

I propose to produce from a cloth or other suitable fabric, by simply sewing` it up pillow-case fashion, and then otherwise seaming the stuff, a bag which, when it shall be distended, will present the appearsingle piece of ance and structure, as to form, of a bag having a perfectly square or satchel-like bottom, and whichl shall present an unbroken smooth exterior in thezvicinity of its bottom and to this end and object my invention consists in a 'satchel-bottom` bag inade from a flattened tubular blank of cloth or other suitable fabric, seamed or closed' up at one end by sttching the material crosswise of the side and end seams in such manner as to produce a perfectly rectangular bottom and smooth exterior to the bag when it shall be distended, all as will be hereinafter more fully eXpla-ined.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceedto describe more fully the structure and mode of making my improved bag, referrin g by letters to the accompanying drawings,'in which- Figure 1 is a plan or side view of an ordinary flattened tubular bag-blank (in this case made of a single piece of cloth) seamed or closed up at one end, so as to present the con- `ditions of the old-fashioned (pillow-case) cloth bag. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same diste'nded, and after having had two crossseams sewed down. Fig. is a view of the same flattened down again to show all the seams and the fiaps formed'. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the same distended, and after having the flaps produced by the cross-seaming cut off. Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, views of the opposite sides of the finished bag after it has been turned to throw all the stitched seams inside and has been flattened ready for transportation to the market; and Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the turned bag distended either for filling or filled.

In the several figures I have designated the same part of the bag by the same letter, and the following brief description (in connection with the drawings) of the mode or manner of making or producing my improved bag will make clear to any skilled manufacturer the novel character and advantages of the improved article, as well as the simplicity and economy of manufacture of the same.

I take, by preference, a single reetangular blank or piece of cloth, and, folding it once over onto itself at the line a b, as seen at Fig. 1, stitch or seam it along two sides of the adjacent edges, as illustrated by the broken lines in said tigure, thus not only seaming the cloth together from c to d to form a fiattened tubnlar blank, but also closing up one end of said tube, from d to b, and thus making a complete old-fashioned bag analogous to-a pillow-case. l now distend, or partially distend, the article and make two cross-seams from c to f and from g to IL, as seen at Fig. 2, thus stitching together at these lines the material, so as to form junctions (at right angles) of that part of the stufl` at B which is dcstined to be the bottom of the bag' with those portions,0, which, when the bag shall be distendcd, are to become two of its (opposite) sides.

The result of this mode or manner of stitchiug or seaming the material is the formation, as seen at Fig. 2, of two fiaps` I) E, which for all practical purposes may be as well dispensed with as retained.

At Fig. 3 the bag, after having been made as indicated by Fig. 2, is fiattened down, showing the appearance in this flattened condition of the bottom portion, and illustrating one of the fiaps, E, turned over on top of the bottom part, B, of the bag, while the other one, D, is laid out fiat in the folded-in side portion of the bag.

If deemcd expedient, and for the purpose of having the interior of the bag, when it shall be turned, smoothcr, these flap-like or ear portions D and E may be cut ofl', so that the finished bag, instead of presenting before it is' turned the a-ppearanee shown at Fig. 2, will appear as seen at Fig. 4. The bag thus made is then, by preference, turned and fiattened or smoothed out, so that its opposite sides appear as at Figs. 5 and 6, in which condition it may most convenicntl y be printed and packed for the market.

When the bag is to be filled or used it is distended in the usnal manner, and presents the appearance and shape illustrated in perspective at Fig. 7.

It will bc seen that by simply the addition to the seamed-up blank or common old-fashioned bag (seen at Fig. 1) of the two short cross-seams described l prodnce a cloth bag which, when turned and distended, will assume a rectangular form, the same, or nearly the same, as that which would result from making a bag by the addition to the open end of a rectangular tube of a rectangular separate bottom piece, and it will be undel'stood that by making the parallel seams e f and g h longer and closer together the contour of the bagbottom B may be made to approach nearer to or become perfectly square.

The proportions and shape of the bag and bottom may, of course, be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention, the gist of which is in a bag having a perfectly rectangular bottom, and when distended into this shape having an exterior which is without any inward or other folds or tucks of the material which operate to or tend to impart to it its polygonal ap'pearance.

It will be observed that with practically no more material than is necessary to produce an old-fashioned clothbag I make a satchelbottom bag of equal capacity as to the contents of the bag, and that in effect I simply dispose of the surplus ear-like and objectionable corner projections or protuberances of the old-fashioned bag by my new structure or form of bag, (in which these portions are either turned in out of use or cut ofl',) and thus atford, at a nominal expense of labor and material to the mauufacturer, a product vastly superior for use than the old kind of bags, and Superior in structure and appearance to any cloth bag heretofore sought to be made to serve the purposes of and resemblin g in appearance a regular satchel-bottom or square-bottom bag.

Having now so fully described my new bag, and the manner of making the same, that any one can make and use it, what I clailn as of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A satchel-hottom bag made from a flattened tubular blank of cloth or other fabric. closed at one end, and having two stitched crossseams located about transversely to the seam which closes the end of the said blank, substa-ntially as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 27th day of December, 1878.

ADAM SMITH. [L. 8.]

In presence of- I JOHN VosBURGH, P. D.VAN O,LINDA. 

